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Fifty thousand years ago, a rock fragment broke away from an asteroid and hurtled toward earth. Estimated to have been 150 feet across and weighing 175 tons, it entered the earth's atmosphere traveling 40,000 miles per hour and crashed into what is now the Arizona desert. Within seconds, it created a crater over 4,000 feet across and 950 feet deep, strewing debris over a one-mile radius.

The terrain created by the impact, now called Meteor Crater, remains barren and rocky, resembling the surface of the moon so much that Apollo astronauts trained here. Take I-40 exit 233 and follow the signs to Meteor Crater.